Emotions run high in Chatham County triple homicide case

CHATHAM CO., GA (WTOC) - The second day in the trial of a triple homicide wrapped up Tuesday in Chatham County.

Dwayne Abney and James Hampton are charged with the 2015 murders of Kiana Marshall, her brother Corey Martin, and their friend Alexis Kitchens.

Tuesday morning, Judge Louisa Abbot brought everyone in and told them that their crying and emotional outbursts on Monday could have caused a mistrial.

"I cannot allow outbursts in the courtroom because these outbursts could affect the jurors. That would mean we would not have a fair trial. That would mean I would have to stop the trial," Judge Abbot said.

There were no disruptions on Tuesday, but emotions still ran high, especially for the mother of two of the victims. Regina Marshall took the stand to explain the moment she found out her children, Kiana Marshal and Corey Martin, were killed.

"That's when I dropped everything I was doing and I ran over there, and that's how. They didn't tell me, but I really knew it was my kids because Corey would have called me. Kiana would have called saying the police were in front of her door, but that never happened," Marshall said.

Kiana told her mom she was having trouble with her roommate Diamond Butler paying rent and wanted her to move out. Other witnesses heard the same thing, but her mom never thought it would be the last thing she talked to her daughter about.

"Right now, she said, 'I'm fixing to call the police and get them out of my house now.' That was the last time I talked to her," Marshall said.

"She was like, 'Kiana and Diamond are about to fight. I said, 'what are they going to fight for,' and she told me, 'cause they're kicking them out of her house today and she wants them gone," said Octavia White, Alexis Kitchens' friend.

Butler testified that she told Dwayne Abney and James Hampton she wanted to shoot the house up, so the two men went back to Carver Village. The prosecution says they had no remorse for what happened next.

"If you wanted him to wet or shoot up that house, what did you say," Butler was asked in court.

"I said yes and I didn't care," said Butler, who is charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy, and burglary.

Butler said she wanted to go with the men to the house, but they told her no. She even went on to say that when the two came back from the crime, they all drank, smoked, and rapped a song about shooting people.

Butler was charged but took a plea deal in exchange for her testimony against the two men. She faces a maximum sentence of 110 years in exchange for her testimony. A judge will make the final call on her sentence.

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